An Exciting Blog About Fabric and Textile Design: Handmade, Vintage, New Design Releases and Tutorials With Sewing In Mind

Friday, 3 June 2011

How To Start A Fabric Business With No Or Very Little Money.

If you want to start your own small fabric business, maybe to raise some extra cash, getting your fabric stock together can easily be done with no or little money (I know because I have done it myself, on Ebay).

I find that some online companies, such as Cath Kidston, don't sell smaller than 1 meter pieces, which is quite expensive at around £20 per mtr when you only need half or a FQ. So there is always demand for smaller pieces, especially if they're out of print such as this piece.

Do you have a lovely bag of scraps that just gets bigger and bigger and fall out of your stash space every time you open it? (I have one of those, it falls open on me like 'Snakes on a Plane') Separate the bundle into nice sized bags (maybe sandwich bag size) and sell them on.

If you don't have the funds to buy brand new fabric to sell, you could always go to Charity Shops/Car Boot Sales to buy pieces of clothing/soft furnishing/curtains that have stunning print and cut them into smaller pieces, again you can pack them up into useful bundles.

And don't forget your own clothes and soft furnishings, where the fabric makes them too lovely to throw away and yet too worn out to use yourself or give to charity. Cut off all the good bits and sell on.

Debs left this really useful comment:As a maker of small items, and soft furnishings, I have masses of scraps, so when I do a craft fair I tip them into a big basket, hang some little brown carriers on the side and offer 'Fill a bag' for £1, or sometimes for charity. It's surprising how many people buy a bag full - quite often young girls for their textile projects at school.

I hope this has given you some inspiration to start selling. Bear in mind that some online Marketplaces charge a listing fee so there will be a cost before you have your first sale.

Thanks for posting this! I've been brainstorming a lot about how to make extra $. This should be obvious for me since I am over run with fabrics. But sometimes when you are on top of something, you can't see it! Hmmmm.....

Brilliant idea... I've already started to 'bite the bullet' and get bundles together for our next Kitsch and Stitch Fair - 3rd September. That's the plug out of the way!Trouble is and here's the rub, can I part with them!?! LLX

here in Uk I buy from jumble sales traditionally where clothing items are generally priced at around 25p or 30p. Car boot sales also have jumbly clothing often spread out on a tarpaulin beside the sales tables.Its the luck of the draw but Ive stumbled on wonderful old vintage cottons, batiks or laura ashley prints, so its well worth the small cost and the laundering to have such a variety to work with.

I keep threatening to bag and sell them too but its abit like selling your children!

Hi Emma, I did it slightly differently but can definitely vouch for the fact that it IS possible to build a successful fabric business with very little money. You just need to be prepared to grow very slowly and organicly.

When I started Sewbox I think I had about £1,000 available to buy stock. I know that sounds like an awful lot of money but you can normally wangle an ordinary overdraft to help out :) and then once you start selling, as money comes in you can buy more stock. And the real growth will come after 6 months or so when you can start to ask suppliers for credit terms. This allows you to buy stock but pay for it 30 or 60 days later - by which time you will hopefully have sold some of it and raised some cash! However most imported fabric isn't available on credit terms unfortunately, but British suppliers are usually sympathetic (once you've established a trading history with them).

Of course having stock is only one half of the equation, you also need people to find your shop, and I've just blogged about this actually, I hope you don't mind me linking to an article here on my blog about promoting your business for free - http://www.cottonandsunshine.co.uk/2011/06/09/10-tips-on-how-to-promote-your-business-online-for-free/

Hi Emma,I found your blog through Annie's (The felt Fairy) post. The is such an excellent and useful post. I'm just making things for fun at the moment, little creatures and things and started out by buying scraps of Liberty fabric from an ebay seller and felt from Annie. Great for making lots of little bits and pieces. I'll definitely pop back for more reading and have another nosey about soon!Joxx

I am extremely inspired with your writing abilities as smartly with the format for your blog. Is that this a paid subject or did you customize it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice high quality writing, it’s uncommon to see a great weblog like this one today.

There are thousands of ways to make money, however just one can give you that great financial breakthrough. Every online opportunity must be carefully investigated before starting. Here is the great opportunity to secure your investment and earn more .how to make money

Thanks for your post. I’ve been thinking about writing a very comparable post over the last couple of weeks, I’ll probably keep it short and sweet and link to this instead if thats cool. Thanks. warehouse toronto

Life is a battle, if you don't know how to defend yourself then you'll end up being a loser.So, better take any challenges as your stepping stone to become a better person. Have fun,explore and make a lot of memories.

Hi, my name is Patric Chan, the best-selling author of WakeUp Millionaire and many other multiple books.

During this video, I’m going to share with you how you can generate income from the internet. I know, it’s quite a big claim to make… but you’ll see how easily it can be done at the end of this video because I’ve done it.

Hi, I loved this post!Starting up your own business definitely requires some bravery, but so does making it grow day by day. With that, you are welcome to ask for help - and good software can help you for sure. If you want to set up a shop in financial industry, have a look at dynamics 365 for financials, if the industry is different I'm sure there will be a suitable option for you too. Good luck!

Grab A Button!

LinkWithin

A Great Place to Sell Your Detash!

About Me

Welcome to my Blog. My name is Emma and a self confessed Fabric Addict! I love discovering new designs, texture, interesting use of colour and all things handmade in fabric. I'm a dressmaker at heart but love all aspects of sewing. I also have a new and exciting website, TheFabricMarketplace.com, a place to buy and sell all things fabric. I hope you can spare some time to drop by there too, the link button is below. I hope you enjoy my Blog and come back regularly to find out what's new and exciting in the world of Fabric & Textile. Thank you for dropping by.